Jacob deGrom Needs Tommy John Surgery: Six starts into his five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, Jacob deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery on his UCL and be out all of this season and most of next. The Rangers are leading the AL West at 40-20 and were hoping to get him back for the playoffs. "The man is the best pitcher on the planet when he's healthy, but there's one little problem. He's never healthy," writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:06 AM - 5 comments

MLB Takes Over San Diego Padres Broadcasts: Diamond Sports has aired its last San Diego Padres game after the network stopped making rights payments while it undergoes bankruptcy. Major League Baseball is taking over and will air games on cable and the league's streaming app. Diamond Sports parent Sinclair paid $10.6 billion in 2019 for the networks now called Bally Sports but the deal didn't include streaming rights. It got them for NBA and NHL teams but struck out with MLB.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:52 PM - 1 comment

Texas Rangers Bats Are Booming: The Texas Rangers are leading the majors with 6.4 runs a game and second in team OPS at 118. One of the surprising sources of that massive production is a player they acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals for "cash considerations" three years ago: 30-year-old Cuban outfielder Adolis Garcia. "He has the bat speed and muscle to pulverize the league’s nastiest pitches, as he proved last week when he became the first hitter to go deep off Atlanta Braves flamethrower Spencer Strider twice in one game," writes Yahoo Sports sabermetrician Zach Crizer.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:45 AM - 0 comments

When is Olivia Pichardo Switching to Softball? Never: Olivia Pichardo is the first female to play Division I baseball, making the Brown University team as a walk-on. Her freshman season was rocky, with one at-bat as a pinch hitter, but she is undeterred. "I wasn't telling myself the odds. I was just telling myself that I was going to make the team," Pichardo said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 02:59 PM - 0 comments

Ryan Brasier Will Be Missed: "I'm not here to defend Brasier's pitching ability, he was bad more often than he was good. I am here to point out that he was a goat, taking the blame for all that was wrong with the Red Sox. Maybe it was the crook in his neck, giving him a perpetually confused expression. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't seem to care, rarely showing emotion after being lifted from the game. Or maybe it was that his name is perfect for pissed-off Bostonians to say as they walk down Landsdowne: 'fahkin Brasiah'." -- Jacob Roy, Over the Monster

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:31 PM - 0 comments

What Happened to the St. Louis Cardinals?: Favorites to win the National League Central again, the St. Louis Cardinals have instead gone 15-25 and dwell in the cellar of the NL. Every starter has an ERA above 4.00, relievers have blown 11 saves and for the first time since 2004, Yadier Molina is no longer behind the plate. The Redbirds signed Willson Contreras for five years and $87.5 million to succeed him, and in a sign of how that's going, he was briefly demoted to DH.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:27 AM - 5 comments

Major Leaguers Pfear the Pfister: Major League Baseball players who stay at the 130-year-old Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee during road trips claim the place is haunted. Adrian Beltre heard phantom knocking in the hallway and the TV kept turning itself on. Carlos Gomez heard voices in the shower and his iPod erupted with static noise. Bryce Harper said his clothes moved. Instead of staying there this week for a three-game road series, Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers is renting an Airbnb. "You can tell me what happened after," he said. "I just don't want to find out myself."

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:31 AM - 4 comments

Gene Collier: I'm Watching Less Baseball, and It's Grand: Now that Major League games are shorter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnist Gene Collier is excited to have an extra half-hour in his day -- to a point. "Who in America, other than the people who are paid to, watches baseball as a staple of their quotidian existence? Too often, the answer is old guys. What are old guys going to do with an additional 25 minutes every day? I wouldn’t presume to speculate, but of course we’ll no longer have an excuse for not having our pill organizers properly filled, and we might want to consider decisive action on those toe nails, you know, before they reach the street."

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:07 PM - 0 comments

Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon fired after link to suspicious bets: Sportsbook surveillance video indicated that the person who placed the bets was communicating with Bohannon at the time

posted by NoMich to baseball at 10:20 PM - 3 comments

That's Not the Name of the Negro League Museum: In a pregame segment Friday in Kansas City, longtime Oakland A's play-by-play man Glen Kuiper wanted to tell people about his great visit to the Negro League Baseball Museum in the city. But he called it something else entirely. He's apologized and been suspended. Museum president Bob Kendrick had this reaction: "I welcomed Glen to the NLBM yesterday and know he was genuinely excited to be here. The word is painful and has no place in our society. And while I don't pretend to know Glen's heart I do know that my heart is one of forgiveness. I hope all of you will find it in yourselves to do the same!"

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:58 PM - 3 comments

Daniel Murphy Attempting MLB Comeback with Long Island Ducks: Former New York Mets All-Star Daniel Murphy is back in baseball at age 38, playing for the Long Island Ducks and hoping to return to the majors three years after his exit. A rewatch of Ken Burns' Baseball inspired his bid. "I underestimated just how cool our game was and how cool the guys were who played before me," he said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:25 AM - 1 comment

13-Year Minor Leaguer Plays First Game in Majors: After 1,155 games over 13 minor league seasons, Drew Maggi finally played in a Major League game for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The infielder was drafted by the team in 2010 in the 15th round and received a $468,000 bonus. He got a standing ovation from the crowd Wednesday, entering as a pinch runner and striking out in one at-bat. "I saw my dad crying. I don't think I ever saw him cry before," Maggi said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:58 AM - 1 comment

Oakland A's Reach Deal on Stadium Land in Las Vegas: The Oakland Athletics have struck a deal on a 49-acre site near the Las Vegas Strip to open a new stadium by 2027, saying goodbye to the city after 55 seasons. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao had been in daily negotiations to keep the team with a new waterfront ballpark. Thao said, "It is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas." Vegas will be the fourth home for the franchise, which began in Philadelphia in 1901 and moved to Kansas City in 1955.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:33 AM - 3 comments

Yankee Stadium Opened 100 Years Ago Today: On April 18, 1923, the original Yankee Stadium opened. A crowd of 60,000 saw Babe Ruth batting third for New York against the Boston Red Sox. Ruth said before the game, "I'd give a year of my life if I can hit a home run in the first game in this new park." In the third inning he hit the first homer in its history.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:57 AM - 3 comments

Tampa Bay Rays Move to 12-0: The Tampa Bay Rays have opened the season with 12 straight wins and play the Boston Red Sox at 1:10 p.m. Eastern today for a chance to extend it to 13. Only three teams have managed that feat: the 1982 Atlanta Braves, 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1884 St. Louis Maroons.

posted by rcade to baseball at 07:22 AM - 3 comments

Rangers Voice Eric Nadel on Leave for Mental Health: I tuned in the Texas Rangers game Saturday and was wondering why Eric Nadel wasn't on the radio call. Nadel's been on broadcasts since I was 12 years old in 1979. He announced in late March he would miss the start of the season for mental health treatment. "I now find myself dealing with anxiety, insomnia and depression which are currently preventing me from doing the job I love," said the 71-year-old Nadel in a statement released by the team.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:28 PM - 2 comments

Rays Make Don Zimmer First Inductee in Team's Hall of Fame: Baseball lifer Don Zimmer joined the Tampa Bay Rays in 2004 as a special advisor and went on to serve in that role for 11 years, his longest stint with any team over 66 years in baseball. Now he has become the first to be inducted into the Rays' new franchise hall of fame, nine years after he died. “The Rays hiring him, I think it made his lifetime longer,” said his wife Soot, 92.

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:58 PM - 3 comments

A Rat Played a Role in 1975's Reds/Red Sox World Series Game 6: MLB Network has been replaying MLB's 20 Greatest Games, choosing as No. 1 game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and the Reds. One thing I learned: The iconic camera shot of Carlton Fisk willing his home run to stay fair happened because of a rat in the Green Monster. Cameraman Louis Gerard was asked by director Harry Coyle to follow the ball. "Harry, I can't," Gerard said. "I've got a rat on my leg that's as big as a cat. It's staring me in the face. I'm blocked by a piece of metal on my right. ... How about if we stay with Fisk, see what happens?"

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:23 AM - 0 comments

Yankees, Aaron Judge Agree To Nine-Year Deal: The New York Yankees are re-signing reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com. It’s a nine-year, $360MM contract, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The agreement is still pending the completion of a physical.

posted by BornIcon to baseball at 08:51 AM - 4 comments

Crypto Deals Turn Ugly for Teams, Leagues: This isn’t the first crypto-related embarrassment that teams and leagues have recently experienced. In fact, it’s not even the first one involving FTX! The company was set to become the L.A. Angels’ sleeve advertiser next season but reportedly backed out of the deal this past June when the crypto market tanked.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 09:15 AM - 1 comment

Randy Johnson, the gift that keeps on giving: Randy Johnson, not a porn star, former fireballer now photographer. What *can't* he do? Concerts. Travel. Wild Life. NFL sideline photographer.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 08:21 AM - 1 comment

MLB's New Playoff Format Debuts Today: The 12-team postseason in Major League Baseball begins today. Gone is the potential heartbreak of playoff elimination after a single game. There's now four three-game wild card series. But there's a new heartbreak: The four lower-ranked wild card teams get no home games in the round. The playoffs also drop the man-on-second extra inning rule.

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:51 AM - 12 comments

The sanctimonious baseball purists want to elevate Aaron Judge. Don’t let them.: But it is not surprising that the keepers of the sport have not made this clear [that Bonds holds the record]. They rarely do. Over the years, they’ve selectively disguised dishonesty in baseball under the cloak of folklore and corrected the record only under duress. (WaPo gift article link)

posted by rumple to baseball at 09:08 PM - 4 comments

MLB Teams Will All Play Each Other in 2023: For the first time, the Major League Baseball schedule in 2023 will feature every team playing each other. This reduces divisional games from 19 to 13. Part of the schedule is a "natural rivalry" four-game series for each team, which is where I learned the natural rival of my Texas Rangers is the Arizona Diamondbacks.

posted by rcade to baseball at 02:23 PM - 9 comments

Vin Scully, Forever the Voice of the Dodgers, Dies: Vin Scully, who died Tuesday at age 94, had a career as a baseball announcer for which the term legendary hardly does justice. He joined the Dodgers broadcast booth in 1950 when they were still in Brooklyn and stepped away from the mic 67 seasons later. Not bad for a kid from The Bronx who grew up rooting for the Dodgers' cross-town rival New York Giants. "It may sound corny,” Sandy Koufax once said, “but I enjoyed listening to Vin call a game almost more than playing in them.”

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:50 AM - 3 comments

MLB settles minor-league class action lawsuit: Major League Baseball has agreed to a settlement over unpaid wages with its minor-league players.

posted by werty to baseball at 10:15 PM - 1 comment

God Almighty the Orioles Have Won 10 in a Row: Phyllis Cooper was a Baltimore native and Orioles fan since 1954 who died July 2 at age 93. Since then her beloved O's have won 10 straight games -- their best streak since 1999. Her son Randy said she was a huge fan. “One thing I learned early on was don’t call her during a game. Because she’s not going to answer you and then you’re just going to get worried, like, ‘Mom isn’t answering the phone.’"

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:35 PM - 1 comment

Basebrawl Includes Actual Punches in Mariners-Angels: There was a barn burner of a brawl today in the Mariners-Angels game. Jesse Winker of the Marines was hit by a pitch, didn't like what he was hearing from the Angels bench and dove into the team throwing punches.

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:19 PM - 10 comments

Josh Donaldson Digs the Hole Deeper: After claiming that calling Tim Anderson "Jackie" was friendly -- despite a recent on-field clash between them and friction going back years -- Josh Donaldson says in an apology to Jackie Robinson's family that he's always held his name in high regard. Because of Donaldson's taunt, Yankees fans now chant "Jackie" at Anderson. Meanwhile, the MLB has its lowest percentage of Black players in 30 years.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:35 PM - 1 comment

Roger Angell's Life in Pieces: The New Yorker remembers Roger Angell, a long presence in its pages and offices, upon his death at 101. David Remnick: "He was not only the greatest of baseball writers; he had also lived long enough to see Babe Ruth, of the Yankees, at one end of his life and Shohei Ohtani, of the Angels, at the other."

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:07 AM - 1 comment

Weirdest Pitching Ejection Ever: Madison Bumgarner was ejected after one inning by first base umpire Dan Bellino, who has a curious way of conducting a hand check.

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:21 PM - 2 comments

MLB 2022: Game On: MLB lockout ends as MLBPA, owners reach agreement

posted by NoMich to baseball at 03:46 PM - 4 comments

MLB Will Ban the Defensive Shift: The defensive shift is no more. The players have given the league permission during lockout negotiations to ban it in 2023. "There are few plays more frustrating for a baseball fan watching on TV than when a hard-hit ball up the middle — seemingly a base hit — ends up being a routine ground out because the defense had the third baseman camped behind second base," writes Andrew Joseph of USA Today.

posted by rcade to baseball at 11:49 AM - 5 comments

David Ortiz First Ballot Hall of Famer: and he is the lone inductee for 2022. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens fall short again and are now no longer eligible for induction via this method.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 09:08 AM - 9 comments

Son Sues Mom Over Baseball Card Collection: Christopher Trencher has filed suit in New York to make his mother hand over a baseball card collection that includes 1953 Topps Satchel Paige and Ralph Kiner cards worth more than $25,000. The 55-year-old claims she bought them for him in the 1980s. She claims he gave them to her. "I want to enjoy them with whatever years I have left," said mom Carol Ivanick.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:51 PM - 0 comments

Robot Umpires Moving up to AAA Baseball Next Year: Seasonal employees to operate the system are being sought.

posted by rumple to baseball at 02:45 PM - 1 comment

I Investigated Bonds and Clemens. Yes, They Belong in Cooperstown: Friday is the last day for voters in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to submit their 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame ballots. Listed on those ballots are two players in their 10th and final year of Hall of Fame eligibility who truly dominated their era but haven’t been voted in: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. (archive link)

posted by rumple to baseball at 02:50 PM - 4 comments

Texas Rangers Had Half a Billion Burning a Hole in Their Pockets: The Texas Rangers spent $500 million this week, signing shortstop Corey Seager to a 10-year, $325 million deal and second baseman Marcus Semien to a seven-year, $175 million deal. They also signed starting pitcher Jon Gray and outfielder Kole Calhoun. "they should be commended for not taking the nihilistic route frequented by fellow cellar-dwellers like the Baltimore Orioles," writes R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports.

posted by rcade to baseball at 06:15 PM - 3 comments

Dodgers Beat Giants in Deciding Game 5: The Los Angeles Dodgers have advanced to the National League Championship series over the San Francisco Giants, winning a 2-1 nailbiter that ended with ace Max Scherzer earning the first save of his career on a Wilmer Flores check swing called strike three that was a bad call by first base umpire Gabe Morales.

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:47 AM - 7 comments

Pitcher Throws No-Hitter in First Major League Start: Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Gilbert threw a no-hitter over the San Diego Padres in his first Major League Baseball start Saturday night. Only four pitchers have ever done that: Theodore Breitenstein in 1891, Bumpus Jones in 1892, Bobo Holloman in 1953 and now Gilbert, a 27-year-old who pitched in 163 minor league games before being called up this year by Arizona.

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:59 AM - 2 comments